Catholic Charities USA Financial Coaching Training

November 4-5, 2019

Grab Breakfast & Settle In

Welcome & Overview

We will not be training you on how to coach clients. Lots of trainings exist for coaches and some Catholic Charities agencies have developed their own. Rather, we will help you design or improve your financial coaching program.

People across income levels struggle to make financial decisions.

Hundreds of organizations across the country are now providing financial coaching in some way, though there’s great variety in design and outcomes.

Context Setting

Please stand up or raise your hand if: You’re currently not providing financial coaching

You’ve been providing financial coaching for 1-3 years

You’ve been providing financial coaching for 4-6 years

You’ve been providing financial coaching for more than 6 years

Icebreaker

What the Research Tells Us about Financial Coaching

Financial coaching, due to its human-centered and goal-oriented nature, supports people to achieve goals, avoid financial pitfalls and create a path for accumulating assets when they have a stable source of income.

Financial coaching provides an accountability partner—someone who can help a participant set goals and stick to a plan to reach them.

An effective financial coach can support people in developing strong research skills andconfidence to make financial decisions and select services and products so that they are able to find good financial information on their own in the future.

Strengths of Financial Coaching

Financial coaching will NOT bridge the racial wealth divide.

Financial coaching will NOT eliminate harmful federal and state policies that keep low-income and people of color from acquiring what is needed to live a nurturing and secure life and acquire and preserve assets.

Financial coaching is NOT one-size-fits-all.

Financial coaching is NOT a quick fix—or an upward trajectory.

Financial coaching is NOT a silver bullet for low-income and communities of color.

Limitations of Financial Coaching

Understand the ins and outs of financial coaching, including field trends, strengths and limitations, and available resources

Learn from experienced practitioners about their experiences offering financial coaching

Explore key decisions that need to be made when launching a financial coaching program

Identify key next steps to take after the training

Objectives for the 2 Days

Time Activity

8:30-9:00 am Breakfast and Settle in

9:00-10:30 am Welcome & Overview

10:30-10:45 am Break

10:45-11:15 am Storytelling & Q/A

11:15-12:00 pm Background & Overview of the Financial Coaching Design Guide

12:00-12:45 pm Lunch

12:45-2:00 pm Coaching in Action—Roleplaying and Q/A

2:00-3:00 pm Understanding Financial Skill

3:00-3:15 pm Break

3:15-3:45 pm Storytelling & Q/A

3:45-4:00 pm Wrap-up and Short History of Charleston

Agenda—Day 1

Time Activity

8:00-8:30 am Breakfast and Settle in

8:30-9:00 am Reflections & Agenda Overview

9:00-9:30 am Storytelling & Q/A

9:30-10:00 am Overview of Chapter 6: Models & Delivery Methods

10:00-10:45 am Overview of Chapter 7: Selecting & Supporting Coaches

10:45-11:00 am Break

11:00-12:00 pm Breakout Session #1

12:00-12:15 pm Grab Lunch

12:15-1:15 pm Breakout Session #2

1:15-1:40 pm Resources Discussion

1:40-2:00 pm Reflections and Closing

2:00-3:00 pm Office hours with Hiba and Melissa

Agenda—Day 2

Working Agreements

Break

Storytelling & Q/A

Background & Overview of the Financial Coaching Program Design Guide

Provide program leaders a series of considerations, tools and resources on how to select and establish a client-centered and client-driven financial coaching program.

Lift up promising models and practices in the financial coaching field.

Share resources for program leaders and financial coaches to help ensure success.

Objectives of the Financial Coaching Program Design Guide

Field research of existing literature

Field survey to which we received close to 500 responses

Interviews with 100+ organizations

Beta-testing with 6 new financial coaching programs

Advisory committee of 7 experienced financial coaching programs

Methodology

Beta-testing Participants

19

Advisory Committee

20

What questions do you have?

Lunch

Coaching in Action: Roleplaying & Q/A

InstructionsStep 1: Get into groups of 3 and assign the following roles in your group: Coach, Client,

Observer

Step 2: Take 1-2 minutes to read the role in front of you

Step 3: Take 10 minutes to role play

Step 4: Take 5 minutes to share your reflections

Step 5: Rotate!

TipsCoaches: Your goal is to have a “successful” coaching session—establish trust, identify

goals, identify action items, etc.

Clients: Your goal is to guide the coaches to helping you identify your goals (at the very least).Give your coaches a difficult time (but don’t be mean!).

Observer: Watch both the coach and client to see what went well and obstacles that emerged.

Roleplaying Activity

What came up for you when you were in the coach’s seat?

What came up for you when you were in the participant’s seat?

How can your understanding of coaching inform how you develop or refine your programs?

Group Discussion

Understanding Financial Skill

Break

Storytelling & Q/A

Gullah Culture and Instructions for the Evening

Day 2: Grab Breakfast & Settle In

Day 1 Reflections & Day 2 Agenda Overview

Time Activity

8:00-8:30 am Breakfast and Settle in

8:30-9:00 am Reflections & Agenda Overview

9:00-9:30 am Storytelling & Q/A

9:30-10:00 am Overview of Chapter 6: Models & Delivery Methods

10:00-10:45 am Overview of Chapter 7: Selecting & Supporting Coaches

10:45-11:00 am Break

11:00-12:00 pm Breakout Session #1

12:00-12:15 pm Grab Lunch

12:15-1:15 pm Breakout Session #2

1:15-1:40 pm Resources Discussion

1:40-2:00 pm Reflections and Closing

2:00-3:00 pm Office hours with Hiba & Melissa

Agenda—Day 2

Storytelling & Q/A

Overview of Chapter 6: Models and Delivery Methods

Integrated—embeds financial coaching into an existing program, like job readiness Good choice if:

Participants already participate in a program at your organization that requires them to come back multiple times

Staff are interested in being a coach

You are looking to keep costs low

Standalone—separate program within the organization Good choice if:

You are looking to work with a new target population

Existing staff don’t have time or skillset to work with target population over several months

Skills/techniques—incorporates coaching skills and techniques into other service delivery models (counseling, case management) Good choice if:

Existing program participants could benefit from elements of coaching

Staff have multiple touch points with program participants, but can’t engage with them over several months

Program Models

Benefits of working with paid staff as coaches: High degree of control

Higher caseloads

Important considerations: Will you train existing staff or hire new staff?

Benefits of working with volunteers as coaches: Less expensive

Greater flexibility

Important considerations: Volunteer management can be a full-time

need

Staffing Models

Will your organization work with paid staff or volunteers?

In-person vs. virtual coaching What are your program participants’ needs?

Communication preferences and accessibility

Schedules and availability

Accessibility to your location

How large is your service area?

What space do you have available?

What equipment do you need?

One-on-one vs. group coaching Benefits of group coaching:

Increased level of support from peers

Group accountability

Improved relationships among group members

Inspiration from peers

Delivery Methods & Platforms

Will the program be open-ended or time-limited? Open-ended programs enable deep, ongoing relationships with program participants

Time-limited programs create more structure and introduce more control over resources

What is your preferred length of engagement?

Will you have rolling enrollment or cohort-based enrollment?

What is your preferred frequency of engagement?

Length, Enrollment Periods and Frequency

Overview of Chapter 7: Selecting & Supporting Coaches

Coach Competencies: What are the core competencies you will look for in financial coaches? Are there other skills your financial coaches should have to meet the needs of your target audience(s)?

Recruitment: How will you recruit financial coaches?

Application Process: What will be included in your application process?

Onboarding and Training: What will your onboarding procedure for new coaches include? What kind of financial coaching training will you provide? Will you offer onboarding and training concurrently or separately?

Supporting Coaches: What type(s) of learning opportunities will you offer your coaches? What factors will impact coaches’ success?

5 Critical Considerations

Soft Skills:

Compassion, humility and empathy for the target audience Understands how values around money differ

Recognizes the person as a whole person with multiple identities and responsibilities

Believes that the participant is an expert in his/her own experience

Communication and interpersonal skills Follows through on commitments

Respects confidentiality and privacy

Speaks honestly

Recognizes power differences and is self aware

Makes difficult concepts accessible

Flexibility and creativity Strikes a balance between being structured but

not prescriptive

Tailors approach to different clients and circumstances

Committed to learning

Other Skills:

Prior coaching and/or counseling experience

An ability to connect with the target audience through bilingual/language skills and/or similar racial/cultural background

Public speaking and presentation skills

Organizational and analytical skills

Familiarity with community resources

Coach Competencies

Do coaches need to have financial expertise? Maybe…

Is your financial coaching program integrated into an asset-building program (e.g., homeownership, entrepreneurship) in which the financial coach will also be a homeownership or loan counselor?

Do your participants have limited understanding of financial topics and the U.S financial system as well as no access to financial literacy classes?

Do your participants want to address serious financial issues such as bankruptcy or consolidating debt while receiving financial coaching?

Are there limited, if any, financial counselors in your community to whom you can provide referrals?

Coach Competencies

Onboarding topics Overview of your organization

Background information about your target audience—Chapter 4

Overall goals of your program

Range of financial topics participants want to understand

Possible financial goals of your participants

Participant journey map

Community partnerships

Performance expectations

Vision of success

Training considerations 1st: Determine what soft skills, technical skills,

background and experiences, financial expertise, and other skills coaches need.

2nd: Ask yourself which skills are prerequisites, and which skills can be developed through training

3rd: Develop an in-house training or select an external training

Onboarding & Training

Peer Learning Opportunities Buddy system

Local or regional convenings

Master coaches

National networks

Supervisory Considerations Manage coaches’ caseloads

Talk to your coaches if you have concerns about their capacity

Support coaches through the ups and downs of program participants’ successes and challenges

Encourage self-care and remind coaches that participants drive the change

Supporting and Retaining Coaches

Break

Breakout Session # 1

Group # 1: Understanding Your Target Audience (Chapter 4) (Hiba & Melissa)

Group # 2: Brief overview of Your Money, Your Goals and deep dive into Credit booklet (Irene & Lissan)

Breakout Groups

12-12:15 Break—Grab Lunch!

Breakout Session # 2

Group 1: Outreach, Enrollment, Engagement & Exit (Hiba & Lissan)

Group 2: Using the Financial Well-Being Scale and Tracking Impact (Irene & Melissa)

Breakout Groups

Resources

Financial Coaching Network: https://prosperitynow.org/get-involved/financial-coaching

CFPB’s FinEx

Your Money, Your Goals

Prosperity Now Scorecard: https://scorecard.prosperitynow.org/

Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/resource/afi-resource-guide-building-financial-capability

Important Resources

Reflections and Closing